Our adopted children first came into our home as foster children. We were assured that there was a high probability that the birth mother’s rights would be terminated making it possible for us to adopt them. The longer that we knew them and cared for them, the harder it became to even consider that we might not get them.
Once a child is taken from the birth mother’s custody, legal proceedings begin. The court has a legal mandate that the matter be resolved in one year. There is an exception to this rule which allows the proceeding to be extended six months in extraordinary circumstances. I get the impression that most of these actions take 18 months, as ours did.
The system is fraught with glitches and delays. For instance, in order for the children to be legally available for adoption, the parental rights of the birth mother, any named fathers, and all other unknown fathers had to be terminated. It is not unusual for birth mothers to change their mind frequently regarding the identity of the father. Sometimes, it is determined that the named father could not be the actual father because he was in prison when conception occurred.
Almost all of the attorneys who represented clients in these courts were appointed by the court. In essence, the judge agreed to give them the appointments and they agreed to be available. Everyday, the same cast of characters was in evidence. All of the parties mentioned above and the children were each represented by a different lawyer.
I attended at least six hearings that had to be continued because either an attorney or a state social worker was not there or not prepared. On another occasion, the matter had to be continued because service of legal process had not been obtained on a named father. This frustrated me because the individual was in prison, so they could not say that they could not find him. I saw several lawyers and one state social worker get “taken to the woodshed” by the judge.
Finally, the order terminating the rights of the birth mother, named fathers and all unknown fathers was entered two days before the 18 month deadline. Our adoption social worker had many years of experience in these courts. She told me that termination proceedings sometimes took years to be finalized before the 18 month deadline became law. The net result was that many children were too old to be adopted by the time termination had occurred. At least the system is making a little progress.
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